It's Never Your Fault
by LieutBrook
Summary: When Yang takes the group of friends to a party she learns new information about one of them. She decides to confront them after when they're sober. [Modern AU, Mentions of Child Abuse, Underage Drinking]


**This is inspired off of a real life event! I went to a party with some friend plus my best friend, she got totally hammered, then she confided with me on the floor of the bathroom. It wasn't child abuse, but it was still something that hurt to hear happened to her. So I decided to write out what sort of happened as a fanfiction**

* * *

When Yang got to the cafeteria table she was basically vibrating with excitement. She plopped down beside Blake with a wide grin on her face, which earned her raised eyebrows from the people at the table.

Blake was the ﬁrst to ask, "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Oh nothing," Yang shrugged, her smile never fading. "Just that there's a party at Cardin Winchester's tonight."

Ruby's eyebrows scrunched up. "But Cardin is a total jerk, why would any of us be excited about that?"

"Not to mention how he practically tortured Jaune for the better half of our high school career," Weiss pointed out blandly as she typed on her phone.

Yang sighed. "You guys are really killing my news."

"Oh I'm sorry," Blake deadpanned. "Please, continue."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, Cardin is having a party; anyone and _everyone_ is invited. I was thinking we could go!"

"Come on guys, it'll be fun! We basically won't even see Cardin — have you seen his house? It's huge! Even Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren are going."

"Seriously?" Blake made a face at her.

Yang nodded. "There'll be food, music, alcohol," she waggled her eyebrows at that last part. "And Ruby, this is the only time I'll ever let you go to one of these things!"

Ruby looked thoughtful for a moment, and then sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'll go." When she got a look from Weiss, she shrugged and smiles nervously. "Maybe it'll be fun?"

Yang had a shit-eating grin on her face when she turned to smile at Blake. The girl sighed heavily. "Fine."

"Alright!" Yang cheered. She dug turned to face the heiress. "How about you, Weiss?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No."

"What! Why not?"

"I don't _do_ parties."

"Oh bullshit," Yang scoffed. "You go to parties all the time!"

With a roll of her eyes Weiss ﬁnally put her phone away. "Those are formal gatherings my father forces me to attend, and they are usually in _my own house_. Besides," she huffed. "Parties like that are just asinine. What's the point besides getting drunk and making regrettable choices?"

Yang argued back, "Those are the best parts! What's the point in living without making a couple regrettable choices here and there?" Crossing her arms, her grin reappeared. "Bet you're just afraid of what you'll say if you get a couple drinks in you."

The glare on Weiss' face intensiﬁed. "Don't be absurd, I am not!"

"Are too!"

"I am not!"

"Oh yeah? Then prove it!"

 _"I will!"_

"Woah, Weiss..." Ruby immediately reached out worryingly.

"No, no I'm going!" The glare on the heiress' face could kill, but Yang was left unphased after being on the receiving end of that glare too many times.

"Alright," Yang clapped her hands together. "We'll pick you up at nine then!"

Yang had a good feeling about the coming night.

* * *

The four were on their way to the party and Yang was getting more and more excited the closer they got. She would be getting out of the house, drink a bit, socialize with all their friends...

But Weiss was in the _worst_ mood since they picked her up.

When they had arrived at the house — _mansion,_ Yang corrected herself — Weiss all but ran to Blake's car and glared out the window ever since. Whenever Yang tried to talk to her to get her to loosen up Weiss would just glare at _her_. That, or tell her to shut up. Finally Yang was tired of her attitude.

"Weiss could you just lighten up?" Yang hissed.

The heiress whipped her head towards the passenger seat. "What did you just say to me?" The heiress spat.

Ruby, as usual, tried to stop the argument before it started. "Guys—"

Only for the two to ignore her. As usual.

"You're acting insufferable!"

"Did you just call _me_ insufferable? You arrogant brute!"

"You're so uptight! Maybe if we get you drunk you won't be so damn wound up!"

 _"Guys!"_

Their heads turned to face the driver's seat. Blake just sighed. "Can you both calm down please? We're almost there."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Weiss turn to face the window again and Ruby try to calm her down.

The blonde just turned to face the front window again and crossed her arms.

A long ﬁve minutes later, they arrived at the Winchester residence. The music was blaring and the house looked as crowded as could be. The four got out of the car and made their way into the house.

Inside was a typical high school party: people all over the house talking or dancing with drinks in their hands, people getting drunk or already drunk. Groups of people were crowding the sides of the rooms so they wouldn't get elbowed in the face by an intoxicated teenager.

When Yang turned to face the rest of her group, her eyes fell on Weiss. She looked as uncomfortable as could be, and Yang started feeling guilty. She not only forced her friend to attend a party she didn't want to go to, but she yelled at her for it.

 _Some friend I am. I should apologize._

Yang opened her mouth, but before words could come out a new person stepped into their space.

"Hey hey guys!" Neon shouted over the music. She was hugging a bunch of cups in her arms. "Have a drink, all of you!"

Ruby shook her head, "I'm ﬁne, thanks."

Neon looked bummed as she pouted. "What about you, Blake?"

"Driving."

"Ugh!" She groaned then turned to Weiss. "You have to have one! Made it myself, it's _amazing!"_

Weiss stopped for a moment. "Yes, I'll take one."

"Weiss," Yang hesitated. "Listen, you don't have to drink if you don't want to."

The girl just rolled her eyes before accepting the cup of alcohol. "I'm ﬁne, calm down."

"You don't really drink. I'm sorry I was pressuring you; your tolerance—"

"I said I'm _ﬁne,_ Yang," Weiss spat. "Stop babying me."

Yang was taken aback by her tone of voice. "I didn't mean—"

Ruby stepped in again, only this time nobody interrupted her. "Hey guys, let's just have fun alright? Drinks or no drinks."

Weiss just huffed and stomped away towards the back of the house. The blonde sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Make sure to watch her, alright?"

Her sister and friend both nodded. Ruby immediately scurried in Weiss' direction and Blake went in search of Sun and Ilia in the same direction.

Taking a deep breath, Yang took a cup from Neon and thanked her before the energetic girl scurried off. Weiss is responsible, she thought. There's no way

 _Weiss is responsible,_ she thought. _There's no way shit's gonna hit the fan._

Shit hit the fan.

The three were taking turns watching Weiss, whether they were standing with her or keeping her within eyesight, but something went wrong. Ruby had ﬁgured she would see Weiss reﬁll her cup but didn't take into account somebody getting a drink for her. Blake kept asking her if she was alright and she would always insist she was ﬁne.

 _Yang wasn't watching her well enough._

She wasn't watching her well enough, because the next thing she knew Weiss was sitting in the corner of the room with her empty cup dangling precariously between her ﬁngers; she looked completely out of it. A boy was sitting beside her, touching her, his ﬁngers sliding up her leg as he spoke.

Yang saw red as she stormed over; she caught the last bit of the conversation before she interrupted it.

"So maybe we could go upstairs for and get to know each other a bit—"

"Hey, get away from her!"

Yang ripped his hand off of Weiss and glowered at him on the ﬂoor.

"Hey!" He stood up, standing barely six foot and looking like too much of a pretty boy to actually hurt Yang. "Who do you think you're—?"

Fire seemed to dance across her vision as she grabbed his collar. "Get. The fuck. Out of here, Marigold." She threatened. "Before I punch your teeth in."

He grits his teeth but forcibly shoved her hands off his collar. Henry shuffled away and Yang doesn't even spare him another look before kneeling down in front of Weiss to survey her condition.

"Weiss?" Yang asked her voice calm and soothing as if she's speaking to a scared animal. She gently rested her hand on her knee. "Weiss, are you okay?"

The heiress lifted her head slowly. She looked groggy as if she was about to pass out, which wouldn't be surprising. "Uhh..." She squinted her eyes. "Yang?"

 _For the love of..._

Yang moved to her side and snaked an arm around her waist and threw Weiss' arm over her shoulder. The blonde slowly hoisted up her friend and lead her towards a quieter part of the house. "Damn Weiss," she mumbled. "How much did you drink?"

"I di'nt drink much!"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's a lie."

The kitchen was surprisingly quiet, all the food had been cleared out and the drinks were in the other room so that was probably why. Yang hooked her foot around the leg of a bar stool to pull it out and carefully sat Weiss down on it. When she knew she was secure Yang let go. "Let's get you some water."

"'M not thirsty anymore..." Weiss put her head in her arms on the counter as if she was going to sleep.

"Hey—" Yang turned Weiss' head so she could still see her face but so she could still lie down. "You need water before you sleep. You're already gonna be screwed when you wake up."

After getting Weiss to cooperate, Yang went around the counter to wash and ﬁll a glass up with tap water from the sink.

"Ya know Yang, you're a good friend," Weiss slurred quietly.

Yang smiled gooﬁly not lifting her head. "Thanks, I try."

"You're real easy to talk to, too."

"I'm glad you think so."

"You're nothin' like my father; he doesn' know how to really talk to me. He jus' hits me instead."

The glass drops.

Yang doesn't hear anything else, not the sound of the water running or the party guests in the other room. She can't hear anything over the sound if blood rushing over her ears.

She slowly turned towards Weiss. "I'm sorry, say that again?"

The drunken girl lifts her head a fraction and cocks her head. "My father and I aren't good at talkin'. He ﬁnds it easier to hit me; gets his point across easy—easier."

Yang didn't trust herself not to break the glass in her hands so she left it in the sink. She slowly walked back around the counter and took the seat to the left of Weiss, pulling it close. She took several deep breaths so calm herself down. "Weiss," she said slowly. "Your father abuses you?"

The heiress lied her head back down on her arms, head facing Yang. Weiss' straight face breaks into a grin.

"Tha's a strong word, inn'it?" She scoffs. _"Abuse._ No, he jus' expects a lot. He gets mad if I don' reach my potential." She rubbed at her eye.

Yang slowly laid a gentle hand on Weiss' arm. The scar over her eye seemed darker in this lighting and it was making Yang feel sick.

Suddenly, Weiss shot up in her seat; she still had a smile on her face as she raised her arms above her head in a stretch. She leaned back and Yang was afraid she would fall off the stool. The bottom of her shirt lifted up in the process. Yang saw dark marks peppered along her waistline. Normal Weiss would be tugging it back down immediately. Normal Weiss would be embarrassed.

Normal Weiss wouldn't be in this situation.

There was just Drunk Weiss who didn't seem to have a care in the world; who didn't seem to have any responsibilities.

"I'm ﬁne!" The drunk girl yelled. "Let's go!"

When she tried to stand up her legs wobbled and she almost face planted into the ﬂoor. Luckily Yang caught her and tugged her back to her feet.

"Oh no," Yang grunted as she straightened out the heiress. "We're going home."

"I don't wanna go home!" She whined. "I wanna dance!"

Under any other circumstances this would be funny to the blonde, but she's just worried and scared for her friend's safety. "No, I'm taking you home. _My_ house."

Weiss pouted as Yang helped her cross the house. She quickly found Ruby, who immediately started fussing over the heiress. Yang said they were going home and told her to ﬁnd Blake which she happily obliged. Finally Yang got to the front door and sat Weiss down on the stairs to help her pull her shoes on.

Yang glanced up at the heiress; she had a faraway look in her eye as her head swayed.

 _We're going to talk in the morning._

* * *

Yang woke up to the sound of hurried footsteps and a door shutting. _Well, Weiss is awake._

The blonde stood up, stretched, and made her way to the bathroom. She rapped her knuckles on the door. "Hey, Weiss?"

She got the sound of her vomiting in return. Yang sighed and opened the door to see Weiss kneeling in front of the toilet breathing heavily, still in the clothes from the night before, hair everywhere. Yang quickly crossed the room and gathered her hair to keep it back and started to rub her back soothingly.

"You're gonna be okay," Yang said as Weiss dry heaved.

"This is disgusting," she croaked.

Yang shrugged, "It happens to everybody at least once. You learn to know your limit, play within it, all that."

She saw Weiss scrunch her eyebrows together. "Isn't that a slogan for a casino?"

"You're right, I just thought it worked."

"But I'm not playing anything."

"Give me a break, I just woke up."

Weiss rolled her eyes. She started sitting up a little.

"Do you think you're alright now?" Yang asked.

The heiress nodded. She grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her mouth, and then Yang helped her stand up to ﬂush the toilet.

"Rinse your mouth out with some water."

As she did so, Yang snuck into Ruby's room and stole a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She went back to the bathroom to see Weiss typing furiously on her phone. Yang cleared her throat and offered the clothes. "Here, you completely passed out last night so you couldn't change; you can borrow Ruby's clothes."

Weiss eyed the clothes. "I-I should be getting back home soon; it's getting late in the morning."

"It's barely nine o'clock."

"Yes but I have a lot to do and—"

"Weiss."

The girl stopped and closed her mouth immediately. Yang sighed, grabbed her hand, and lead her back to her bedroom.

"Please change your clothes. Knock when you're done," and without another word Yang shut the door and waited for the other girl to ﬁnish. She had a lot to think about and not much time.

What seemed like seconds later there was a soft knock and Yang pushed the door open. Yang grabbed her friend's hand again and lead her to the bed. She sat her down on the bed and took a seat next to her. Yang took a deep breath.

"Weiss, how much do you remember of last night?"

The girl thought for a moment. "Not much of after we got to Cardin's. Nothing at all, really." Her eyes widened. "Did I do something embarrassing?"

"No!" Yang reassured her. "No, nothing embarrassing. You did... say some things, though. You kind of conﬁded in me at the end of the night."

Weiss had a worried expression on her face. "What did I say?"

"Well..." Yang hesitated. She didn't know if she should be blunt or not; it was a delicate topic.

Weiss scowled at her, though Yang could still see the stress. "Come on, just say it."

"You said your father hit you."

Yang was met with silence. Weiss just stared at her with a blank face. Her ﬁddling hands stilled and her back was ridged.

Yang reached out, "Weiss, if you—"

"Obviously I was over exaggerating," she scoffed. She waved Yang's hand away and stood up abruptly, crossing her arms. "My father wouldn't hurt me."

"Well obviously he did!" Yang regret her loud voice because Weiss ﬂinched. As small as a motion it was, it was noticeable.

The blonde looked at her lap. "Look, I'm sorry. I pressured you last night and this was a result, but I'm glad I did if this was the only way we would learn about this. I can't just stand around and listen to you _lie_ for that man."

"I-I'm not—!"

"Please, Weiss." Yang just looked defeated. "I don't want to argue with you; I saw bruises on your stomach that I seriously doubt you did yourself. I just want you to tell me the truth."

Weiss' hard gaze softened. She looked away from her friend and uncrossed her arms. "He... umm," she started to ﬁddle with her ﬁngers again. "He is not always... kind to me. When I do something he does not like he becomes... angry."

Seeing the conversation was getting difficult for Weiss, Yang took the reins. "Would you rather me ask you questions and you just say yes or no?"

Weiss nodded and sat back down on the bed.

"Alright. Weiss?" The girl looked up in her eyes. "Does your father hit or slap you?"

"N...Yes."

"Does he do it often?"

She nodded hesitantly.

"...did he give you that scar?"

A long pause.

Then a small nod.

It felt like a cold ﬁst clenched around her heart. Weiss couldn't look at her in the eye anymore.

"It... it's my fault, really," Weiss stammered hurriedly. "He wasn't in a good mood that day; th-there were protests. There was a particularly bad one that day, and I bothered him after work about something stupid. He was wearing a particularly sharp ring..."

Yang noticed tears starting to form in her eyes and how she was frantically trying to downplay her situation. The blonde cautiously laid a hand over her friend's, and when she didn't react negatively Yang spoke.

"Weiss, absolutely _none_ of this is your fault. No matter what anybody says, this will never be your fault." Her voice cracked. Tears started to spring from her eyes. "This—you did nothing wrong, and I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Weiss ﬁnally broke down into tears and threw her arms around Yang. She wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and held her tight. Yang felt Weiss grip the back of her shirt as if her life depended on it as she sobbed into her collar.

Yang can almost guarantee that _this_ was the closest they've ever been. Sober, at least.

She rubbed her back soothingly and gently rocked her in her arms; she whispered reassurances in her ear to try and calm her down. When Weiss started to breathe better Yang pulled away and rested her forehead against hers. Weiss' eyes were bloodshot from crying and her cheeks were still wet from tears. Her breathing was still shaky but at least she wasn't hyperventilating. Yang rested a hand on the back of her friend's neck. Yang took a deep breath.

"Weiss, we need to do something about this..."

She was already shaking her head and seemed to start to panic again. "No. No no no no—"

"Weiss," Yang cut her off gently. "Take a deep breath." When she did so, Yang continued. "He can't get away with this. Parents are supposed to love and care for their kids... not _this."_

Weiss seemed to stare at her for ages before she slowly started nodding her head.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and it slowly opened. Ruby and Blake both poked their heads into the room cautiously.

"Is uh... everything okay in here?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, we heard Weiss earlier and then shouting."

They noticed Weiss' red eyes and immediately sprung into action.

"Ohmygod are you okay?!"

"What's wrong? You can talk to us."

"Yeah!"

Weiss smiled gently at her friends. "Thank you guys," she looked back at Yang. "Truly."

Weiss wrapped her arms back around Yang in a hug. Yang hugged her tightly back, then Ruby and Blake ran from across the room to join in.

Yang had some phone calls to make, but that could wait ﬁve more minutes.

* * *

 **As I said this was based off a party I went to where my friend got super drunk and confided with me. I started writing this in November after the party, but hey in true Me fashion it took me two months to finish and publish.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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